A light in the sky
by FrostFan
Summary: In episode 25 of the Last Exile anime series, there is a gap between an evening and a morning. This is a purely speculative little thing on what happened during that gap...


Disclaimer: I do not own Last Exile, Claus Valca, Dio Elaclaire, Lavi Head, or any of the characters, inventions, settings, or anything concerning any of these things. They are the rightful property of GONZO animation studios, and I have just taken the liberty to play with them for a while. Also, this story contains a boy x boy pairing, in other words two boys entangled in the miracle of life called love. If the thought of this makes you feel sick, please do not read this story. I will not take responsibility for any consequences or after-effects you might suffer from ignoring this.  
  
The sky...never changing, ever the same...  
  
At least, that was what he had thought when he had begun flying for the Norikia vanship Organization. Now his mind had been changed in quite a drastic manner.  
  
He understood more of what the sky - his sky - was. His sky was his, and his alone. He alone could percieve himself well enough to be able to see every aspect of the thoughts, ambitions and emotions that came together in order to form his sky.  
  
Every human had a different sky that belonged only to that person, formed by their hopes, dreams and ambition.  
  
His sky was a sky of vanships, of of rainbirds, of seemingly endless woolen cumulus skies that covered the skies like a blanket, shielding the world from the arrogance and abuse of the Guild, of the Sylvana, like a safe harbour, and of the Grand Stream...and EXILE.  
  
Looking down from the rainy, torn sky, his eyes came to rest at the young girl on the other side of the room, sleeping peacefully agains a barrel of rain water. A slow caring smile, tattered with sadness and frustration, invaded his lips. He felt sorry for the poor girl. Taken in by Anatore, concealed, raised in secrecy, hidden from the feline eyes of Maestro Delphine and destined to be the ver last hope to gain EXILE and save the world from the clutches of the Guild.  
  
As a result of this, people had come to regard Alvis as merely a thing, cargo, or as Sophia had exclaimed the first time they spoke with one another: "She's the final key to EXILE." She needed all the recognition as a human she could get.  
  
He raised his head looking at at the sky, the sky that was only his. He had been flying in that sky with Lavi since they were kids, and as the years passed by they had gotten to know parts of each other's skies, though they had never shared it with one another.  
  
Frankly, no matter how much he had cared for her, and still cared, he had never wanted to share his view on they sky with her, or anyone else. At least, no one until now...  
  
Feeling wet tears running down his cheeks, he raised his right hand and wiped them away.  
  
"Dio..." he whispered softly out into the rain, and felt new tears stinging behind his eyes as his voice drowned in the noise of waterdrops falling on the stone covered roof.  
  
He had been changed ever since had had met the young man of the Guild, all since he had been confronted with his search for freedom for Maestro Delphine, his seemingly carefree attitude towards life, and his flirting behaviour towards him.  
  
He pulled his legs closer to his body, hiding his face and the tears that were burning behind his eyes. "I am a coward..."  
  
He could remember the first time he had actually met the infamous Dio Elaclaire, brother of the tyrant queen of the Guild, Maestro Delphine Elaclaire.  
  
An embrace...words spoken in such intimacy as if he was a life-long friend...the warmth of him against the back of his brown pilot's suit...  
  
The confusion in his mind had been too great to deal with the very intimidating and imminent situation of a person, ans espescially another male from the enemy camp hugging him and whispering softly into the dirty- blonde bangs of his hair.  
  
He had ran away and hidden behind the first person that ocurred in his mind, his first line of defense at the Sylvana, the mechanic Gale, who also seemed to harbor this strange affection for him, this fool-breeding form of positive care.  
  
But he had found out then that runnning away cold be worse and more painful than facing the situation. The hurt look in Dio's taunting eyes had haunted him thrugh the first lap of the endurance race, and made him fly like a rookie.  
  
From the moment he had felt Dio's body against his own, he hed not been able to forget his smile, his silken white hair, and his greyish eyes, intensified by the painted spots on each side of them...  
  
Snapping back to reality, he noticed for the first time in his life (thankfully) that when the roof of his and Lavi's house was not present, he could look directly up at the tower of the Norikia City Hall. A dim light emantated from the the windown in the upper room of the tower, and though it was dim it burned itself into Claus' mind.  
  
He felt, to put it lightly, like shit. He was stuck in his old home town, with the most wanted person in the world, residing in a house that no longer had a roof, unsure if his comrades at the Sylvana had dies in the Guild's onslaught, cold, wet and really unsure about his feelings.  
  
They were a turmoil of old, shattered ones and new, fiery ones that tingled up and down his spine and made him shiver inwardly in excitement whenever his thoughts came to grasp them.  
  
Lavi...he had known her for as long as he could remember, probably since they were about a year old, and they were the best of friends in the world, though they argued quite a bit. After their fathers had gone lost in the Grand Stream, and they had to struggle and toil every night and every day to learn themselves how to fly in order to follow them, his feelings for her had grown into something a bit more than friendship.  
  
He had thought about telling her how he felt, how deeply he cared for her...how much he loved her and wanted to take care of her, when they returned from the Grand Stream.  
  
But now...  
  
Sighing, he looked down into the floor, feeling very miserable and lost. His already shaky life had become a total chaos, as Alvis had ruined their carefully stacked house of cards and gotten the Guild onto their tails.  
  
He had chosen it himself, though, and he had been prepared for his life being screwed up ever since he had promised Lavi to go into the Grand Stream after their fathers. When harboringa futile quest for internal atonement that will most certainly result in your death, resignment seemed the only way to endure.  
  
But why, oh why, did the total, and very concentration-stealing though irrelevant, breakdown of his newborn lovelife have to occur at the same time? His adorement for Lavi had kept most his feelings related to love at bay, and though he had had some short encounters with other girls, she had always been the one he cared the most for.  
  
"Dio no baka...why did yo have to do this to me right now? Why did you have to imbue me with this uncertainty, this nervousness? Why did you have to make me...fall in love with you?"  
  
No matter how he looked at the matters at hand, the worry he felt for Sylvana, the worry he felt for Alvis, the worry he felt for Lavi...none of them could match the worry he felt for Dio. The way Maestro Delphine seemed to have raped his mind, erased the Dio Claus had gotten to know, however faintly..  
  
In that instant, his urge to put his hands around her pale neck and choke the refined life out of her perfected body was nearly to great to contain.  
  
Whatever happened, whatever he would have to sacrifice to achieve it, no matter if he had to die for it, he would be the one to take Delphine down and avenge Dio.  
  
"What did she do to you, Dio?"  
  
Claus arose from the floor and walked over to Alvis, looking down at the sleeping girl. Smiling, he tucked her even closer into the worn, brown rag and after assuring himself she was firmly asleep, he walked out the door, onto the seemingly scourged streets of Norikia.  
  
That's it for the first chapter. R&R, please. I love reviews! ^^ 


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